WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 285, 2 December 1925, Page 9

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE NEW CHIEF JUSTICE. MR. HOLLAND'S PROTEST. A LONG-LIVED RACE. CBy Telegraph.—Special to "Star.") WELLINGTON, Tuesday. The New Chief Justice. It is not altogether surprising that Mr. H. E. Holland, the Leader of the Parliamentary Labour party, is protesting against the appointment of Mr. C. P. Skerrett as Chief Justice in succession to Sir Robert Stout. Mr. Skerrett, as chairman of the Welfare league, must share the responsibility for the repeated attacks made by that somewhat garrulous body upon the Labour party, and in his public addresses and professional activities he has taken no pains to spare the feelings of Mr. Holland and his friends. But even so distinguished a lawyer as the Chief Justice elect could not be expected to so 'bridle his tongue as never to utter a word that could be quoted against him when he assumed the presidency of the Supreme Court Bench! As a matter of fact, it has been the practice in New Zealand, as it has been in other parts of the Empire, to confer upon lawyers of distinction who have taken some part in public life the uppermost positions in their profession.- Sir Robert Stout, the retiring Chief Justice, was more of a politician than he was of a lawyer when Mr. Seddon deemed it expedient. to relieve him from the distractions of public life, and before Sir Robert Stout there was Sir James Prendergast and Sir George Arney. Chief Justices,- by the way, have acquired the habit of reigning long, Sir George Arney having held office for seventeen years, and Sir James Prendergast for twenty-four years, while Sir Robert Stout is now in his twenty-seventh year. • Here a~e examples for Mr. Skerrett to emulate.

Sir Robert in Parliament. It is to be hoped that Sir Robert Stout in the many years of ease the community is wishing him will find time to place on permanent record some of the incidents and experiences of his political life, which was spent in close contact with many of the big men of 1 the Dominion. As an indication of the wide field he could cover an "interview" with him, published .in the "Dominion" this morning, will give some idea of the value of his reminiscences. "Party politics in my time," he is reported as saying, "were quite as strong then as now. In the past New Zealand had always had a high class of man in Parliament. A great number of them were graduates of Home universities. I might mention that there is not a single member of either the Upper or Lower Houses of 1875 alive to-day, but myself. There are only two alive who were members of the 1876 Ministry, Mr. de Lautour and myself. lam also the oldest member of the executive. There is no one else alive who was a member of the Executive Council of 1878." When Sir Robert Stout entered Parliament he was only 27 years of age. Even thus early he was a strong advocate of limiting the hours of labour for young people and women. He was an advocate also of women's suffrage. He also manifested at the same time a keen interest in the liquor question, writing an article in 1875 for a New Zealand magazine, in which ho propounded the idea, of local option and paved the way for his subsequent activitics'in that direction.

The Licensing Poll. Now that the licensing poll is definitely decided, as the law stands, the Prohibitionists are demonstrating quite plainly that as between Continuance and No License the majority is with the latter. The official figures are as follows: — No License 319,400 Continuance 209,584 State Purchase 56,043 Total 675,077 These figures show that No License had a majority of 19,866 over Continuance, and a majority of 263.407 over State Control., and from this basis the Prohibitionists are arguing thaj; 75,909 votes were cast against the present system. Up to a certain point this contention is sound enough, but it ignores the fact that the preferences as between Continuance and No' License of the 56,043 electors who voted for State Control are not known. The probability is that a substantial majority of these electors, if they could not have State control, would prefer Continuance to No License. They include the large and increasing number of people whose objection is to the indiscriminate manner in which liquor is sold, and not to the liquor itself. But, of course, the only way in which the three-issue ballot paper could be fairly and effectively handled would be by the institution of preferential voting,* which would give every elector an opportunity to indicate which issue he would prefer in the event of his first choice being defeated. If the contending parties would accept this absolutely equitable system of decision the necessary lesislation could bo put through Parliament without the slightest difficulty, and tho majority of the electors would get what they wanted.